The Times We Live In: Degenerative AI and a Rejected Copyright

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AI is everywhere in today's world. It threatens artists just as much, if not more, than others. Not only is AI getting better and better at imitating real art, but it's learning to use and even plagiarize the hard work of real humans. AI art threatens art and writing with genuine human thoughts and emotions behind it. It doesn't think about plotholes for days, it doesn't brainstorm with its friends, it doesn't jump up late at night searching for a pen and paper when ideas strike like lightning. It gathers bits and pieces from real artists, real authors who have done just that and splices them together into a half-formed draft it sees no issues with.

In five or ten years, there will be as many limits on AI as there are on social media or mass production of food. This has happened over and over, from age restrictions to required ingredient listings; we've learned how to make new things safe and regulated. But for now, there is this unease everywhere we go. Who's to say AI didn't generate that billboard? Who's to say a reporter can't use AI to draft her articles? Who's to say I didn't have AI write this blog post? (I didn't, of course. I would never.)

Who's to say whether or not AI generated my book cover?

Maybe the following screenshot, which I relied on to be the truth when I released the book with the new cover?

My artist assuring me before we started working on the cover that she draws the covers herself.

Maybe the email I got from the U.S. Copyright Office on Friday afternoon telling me that my book is uncopyrightable because the cover was AI generated?

Maybe the five AI detectors I ran it through, four of which told me it was absolutely AI generated?

Or maybe Fiverr's customer support, agreeing that it was AI created but refusing to give me any of my money back for the first cover or the fees it's going to cost me to go through the whole process again?

I didn't know my cover was AI. If I had, I never would have republished it. And now that I know, I will not have three and a half years of hard, human work continue to be wrapped in and displayed behind the work of a computer.

I won't take back what I said in my post about AI in writing - I think we should learn how to responsibly make AI work for us so that we don't end up working for it. But we need to do so with integrity, honesty, and transparency.

My artist should have told me she was going to use AI. I would have cancelled the order immediately and found a different artist.

But because of her, I've lost $300+ and I've unknowingly hidden my pride and joy behind a digitally created photo that threw my copyright down the drain.

So, what am I going to do about it?

Well, I started by contacting Fiverr's customer service team. They willingly cancelled the order for Beyond the Wall's cover, which I could have done myself. But they refused to refund me for the first cover ($120+), or give me any compensation for the $150+ it'll cost me to reupload the files and reregister the copyright.

I'm going to keep trying to get them to see how much this will damage their business model. Authors like me need to be able to trust Fiverr and its artists. AI is becoming more and more prevalent, and friends, we are the trial generation - the ones with no age restrictions or ingredient lists. If we keep fighting back, we'll make sure that good AI regulations are put into place so that in ten years, it won't be such an issue anymore. But if we lie down and let AI take over our passions, the Matrix isn't as implausible as we thought.

I think the key here is to not blow [AI] like we did with social media and fail to regulate it out of the gate.

-Dr. Lisa Damour, P.H.D.

I don't know yet what this means for my books. I don't know what it means for Beyond the Wall's release date - we may have to push it later in November or even into December if I can't get my money back and find a new cover artist. I don't know what it means for my career as a writer. In fact, I'm a little afraid that once I share this newest problem with the world, people will think I intended my cover to be AI. I expect questions like, "Why didn't you think to run it through a detector before you published it?"

The answer is simple enough: I took her at her word.

If you have any questions (or artist suggestions, for that matter), feel free to contact me with the form below. I'm happy to talk about what happened.

It's a crazy world we live in.

Stay tuned as I try to navigate this (massive) new roadblock.